CycleDog

CycleDog: (n) 1. An all-weather bicyclist, often regarded as one very sick puppy with a bad attitude. 2. A ankle-biting poodle with a Mohawk. (l)Canis
familiaris cyclus

Sunday, July 22, 2012

When ducks attack!

We take Duchess the Wonder Dog to the
park for her daily walk. She belongs to Lyndsay, but since my
daughter has an erratic work schedule through the summer, I've been
the designated dog walker recently. Duchess is very good at
'reminding' us that it's time to go, and she does this by prancing
around in the house until we open the front door. The dog knows the
word “walk” so it cannot be spoken without sending her into
gyrations.

Last week, She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed
wanted to go along and feed the ducks. Mary hasn't walked with us for
a while because of the heat. It's hard on her, so she normally stays
home. But there was stale bread in the kitchen and she hadn't been to
the park for a couple of weeks. She wanted to visit the ducks. So
Mary, Lyndsay, Duchess and I all piled into the car.

At the park, she walked to the edge of
the pond where the ducks spotted the bag in her hands almost
immediately. Every duck in the northern half of the county converged
on her! Lyndsay, despite being an animal lover, was creeped out by
the sudden crowd of ducks around her feet.

Duchess saw this as too much
encroachment around her 'mom' and ran the ducks off. She raced toward
them and they bolted into the water. Duchess would not pursue because
getting into the water is entirely too much like getting a bath –
something she avoids at all costs. But when she moved to the left,
the ducks moved to the right and came back up on the bank looking for
more bread. Meanwhile, Duchess was eating whatever bread she could
find. This back-and-forth went on for a few minutes until one of the
larger ducks tired of the game. The next time she lunged at them, he
stood his ground and pecked at one of her front paws!

Duchess yipped and jumped back. She
limped away holding the paw well off the ground. Lyndsay rushed over
to look, thinking that she'd stepped on a fish hook or a thorn, but
the dog was just being a drama queen. The duck called her bluff.
Within a minute or two, she was walking normally again.

So be careful in our local park.
There's a gang hanging out there, and they all quack.